barrydancer wrote: "In Germany, Hitler used the "Emergency Powers" doctrine of the Weimar government to seize power by declaring an emergency; in contrast, Lincoln did it by simply declaring NOTHING, and leaving Congress in recess when their presence was required in resoponse to his intended actions. Thus he clearly acted wth omissive intent to assume office with no word to Congress, despite an obvious duty to inform them that their presence was required by law." Well, this thread has been officially Godwinned...

Sorry pal, Lincoln came first-- and set the example and precedent for Hitler's identical coup d'etat of the Third Reich, which he clearly patterned after Lincoln.

To wit:

"[T]he individual states of the American Union . . . could not have possessed any state sovereignty of their own. For it was not these states that formed the Union, on the contrary it was the Union which formed a great part of such so-called states."

--Mein Kampf

Lincoln seized power of all three federal branches under color of "national emergency," while likewise claiming national authority over separate nations as being all part of one nation in the same.
And Lincoln clearly PLANNED it that way, as proven by his prior statements and actions.

So I'm not comparing Lincoln to Hitler-- on the contrary, I'm comparing HITLER to LINCOLN... successfully, since Hitler clearly COPIED Lincoln in his formula and covert plan for seizing power in a dictatorial coup.
Translation: you lose.

Check. mate... and PWNED!

(Sheesh, next you'll cry "Godwin" if I claim that Hitler copied the salute from "HAIL CAESAR!")